A. Yes, I can envision it :-) It is a relatively common practice on larger properties in my rather rural area. And It was something I did myself in my old garden, although on a significantly smaller scale.

Here, one tends to find a percentage of conifers included in the mix as well, which may be something to consider for more year-round uniformity of appearance or privacy. Additionally, this type of mixed planting appeals to the plant geek in me as it offers the opportunity to choose and plant a lot of different stuff! And as Ken likes to point out, this type of mixed planting obviates many of the issues that may arise with a single species or monocultural planting scheme.

B. This is entirely your choice. As a designer myself, I am never hesitant to suggest employing a landscape designer :-) But you seem to have a pretty clear grasp of what you want to accomplish so I am not sure whether this process is really necessary. If you are familiar with the plants you intend to be using, recognize their individual cultural requirements and suitable placement and spacing, a general, 'designed' layout is something you should be able to develop yourself. I think one of the features of this type of mixed planting scheme is the degree of randomness involved. The result should look quite natural rather than carefully planned (even though it may be).

Depending on the depth of this border, I would include some natural pathways/trails through to access the areas that may need hands-on attention as the plantings establish and mature.

You might find The Natural Garden by Ken Druse a helpful resource. Well illustrated with a lot of inspirational photos outlining virtually exactly what you intend. And it may also offer some plant choices you might not have considered. You can find this used on Amazon for next to nothing or maybe available at your local lending library.

try to find some grounds that undulate ...

having grown up in flat suburbia ... my place has hills and valleys ... all of about 8 feet in height .. lol ... most farmland tends to be flat ...

but boy.. what a difference it makes ...

if you are not thinking of hiring an interior designer ... then i dont recommend one for indoors ... make your own mistakes ...

last thought ... moving out to 5 acres... your absolute first problem... will be water .. and how to get it to all your transplants ...

and then live there at least a year.. before you go nuts ...

my point being .... dream all you want.. but you have many issues to solve.. before you go planting things.. 300 feet past the length of your hose ... i know how i solved this.. and it took about $750 to solve ...

when it all boils down ... i would make sure.. to buy a lot with SOME large trees ... you just dont have 50 to 100 years to wait for such ... i cant tell you how many trees i planted.. so the kids could climb them.. they are both teens now.. and most of them.. are almost big enough to climb ... crikey on that brilliant idea.. lol ...

a perfect farm lot.. might be half barren land.. half on the edge of the farm forest .. hopefully the west half.. so you could build up near it... without going in and destroying the trees .. but have afternoon shade from such ...

ken

Hair, there's right around one million things that could be said at this point, but I want to distill it down to just one: Use your largest-growing tree types as the "bones" or skeleton of your future landscape. That is, plant for their location first, everything else after. And even within this paradigm, I'd take it one step further. Instead of saying to yourself, gee, I just have got to have a bur oak somewhere, take each location where you think you might want a large-growing tree type and ask yourself, what shape of crown, what growth form would be most useful and compelling in that spot. In other words, don't get hung up on the details of this bark pattern, that flower or fruit, but instead, the big concepts of shape, size, form, perhaps density....things like that.

+om

That's what I did. It sure simplifies design issues, otherwise you'll get the cart before the horse and unending confusion.
Mike

Conifers definitely are part of the plan, even if I unfortunately cannot grow the wide array of conifers that our friends in the Pacific Northwest can.

Yeah, Mike, i'm jealous.

We are looking at a home that they cut down all the trees. If we buy I will do what you are planning. Plant a few bigger trees buy some seedlings maybe from Musser or Needlefast Evergreens.com. Plan to sow crimson clover and other cover crops. (I do will not mow even one acre). Will get a farmer to disk the area then plant lots of sunflowers and other plants for the birds. Rambling!

Just planning to take it back to nature.

This is the stuff I like to hear!

The lot I was thinking of above is actually nice and rolling. It has some more “upland” like areas, and more “bottomland” areas, and a small part is technically on the floodplain of a creek (far from where the house would be). Even farmland in my area tends to have some rolls and hills. Further east in MD gets flatter, further west, hillier, then mountainous.

Part of my thought process on this, or any lot, is to at least somewhat plant for the site. Bottomland/floodplain species in the appropriate areas, upland species in the higher areas, in between, whatever. I don’t need to stay strictly native, but at least site-appropriate. A flatter lot would make these distinctions less important, but I’d still watch the drainage of the area.